10/09 - Learning to Fly Later in Life

10/09 - Learning to Fly Later in Life

By Steve Krog

“Flying gives you an opportunity to see and do things you never have before. But flying depends a lot on physical motor skills, so my recommendation to anyone who might be considering it, especially over the age forty, is to go for it sooner rather than later. Learning does not get easier with age. Do it now!” says James “Sandy” Wilson.

Sandy, 63, has devoted his life to the military, growing a successful business, and raising two sons, but he decided it was finally time to pursue one of his life-long goals: learning to fly powered aircraft. “I’ve always wanted to learn to fly but family and circumstances prevented me from doing so until now,” he said.

South Bend, Indiana, where Sandy grew up, was not a hotbed of aviation activity to attract the attention of a young man. His father learned to fly under the Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) program in WWII and earned his private pilot license. But he made only one additional flight after the war – taking his wife for a ride - then gave it up, never to fly again. After hearing the story of his father’s flight training, Sandy wondered what it would be like to fly. “In the back of my mind I thought it might be fun to do and try,” he said.

When duty called, Sandy found himself in the U.S. Army for four years and he remained in the active Reserves serving his country for a total of 28 years. He became a Certified Public Accountant, then got involved in the real estate business, and for the past 35 years has focused on developing in the Hyde Park area of Chicago.

A father of two sons, Sandy thought it important to pick an activity to do with each son, an activity they could do together while learning something new and spending quality time together. He and his eldest son talked this over, narrowing the choices to becoming active in the Boy Scouts or taking glider pilot lessons. They first tried the Boy Scouts, but living in the inner city of Chicago wasn’t very conducive to scouting. So, they soon pursued glider flying at Hinckley Soaring in Hinckley, Illinois. Both earned a private pilot glider rating.

Flying gliders with his eldest son proved to be an ideal activity for the two of them. It sparked an interest in his son, who went on to attend Purdue University for aviation, but couldn’t get the medical certification necessary to fly. He didn’t allow that to quell his passion for aviation and pursued a career in aviation maintenance. He is now an A&P (airframe and powerplant) mechanic and parts procurement manager for a major airline.

“Once bitten by the aviation bug, he never wanted to be anywhere other than in an airplane or at an airport,” commented Wilson.

When Sandy’s younger son reached his early teens he suggested they learn to fly airplanes together. After some thought his son said, “Dad, flying airplanes is impractical. I’d rather work on cars.” So that is what they did; together they got involved in British sports cars, focusing on Sunbeam Alpines.

“Interestingly, the activities I did with each of my sons continue to be a real passion for both. My elder son remains in aviation and my younger son still owns and tinkers with his Sunbeam Alpine, which he’s owned for nearly 20 years,” Wilson reflected.

Sandy still wanted to fly powered airplanes but felt very strongly that it was important to have and do something in common with each of his sons. “Learning while doing is something we could do together,” Sandy said. Flying airplanes would have to wait.

He didn’t have any ready way to get started until meeting a friend who also wanted to learn. “We decided we’d do it together and began visiting Chicago area airports. I was convinced the only way to truly learn to fly airplanes was to do it in a tail dragger.”

Unable to find any suitable flight school in the area for tail wheel airplanes, they expanded their search. “We came up with two possible instructors, but after visiting with them we came away with the feeling they were more interested in flying than teaching,” Sandy said. “Finding a good teacher was high on our priority list so we continued our search and eventually found Cub Air Flight through the EAA. Once we got started it was apparent we had made the right choice.

“I love to learn new things, and learning to fly is all that and more,” he continued. “If I encounter something I don’t understand I dig in and search out information until I do understand it. Flying is all about physics; there’s an explanation for everything. You just have to find the right instructor who can tell you and teach you.”

Sandy reflected on his flight training so far: “Perhaps the toughest thing I’ve encountered is finding the vertical reference to make good landings consistently. Landing a powered aircraft is unlike landing gliders, but the air work is quite similar. Because of my glider experience the air work came quite naturally to me.

“Flying is a challenge every day and each day is a challenge of a different kind. One day it’s hot and humid, affecting how the airplane flies; the next day it can be cool and windy with a strong cross-wind to deal with for landing. I really enjoy the learning part of every aspect of the training we’ve done so far.”

One thing he finds interesting about the aviation community is that it is a very positive group, Sandy related. “They’re doing something that they want and love to do. They all have a strong, shared interest and it’s a very sociable group, too. So flying is interesting to me in two or three different ways.”

Sandy is uncertain of where flying will take him after completing the training. The costs are relatively modest by aviation standards. And, he says, if you use your acquired skills and common sense it really isn’t a risk any more than any number of other machine-oriented hobbies.

“Because I have such a hunger for learning, I may go on and pursue an instrument rating.”